Silly Question for Wednesday: Utensil loading direction

[lil_acorn]

In which orientation do you load your silverware in the dishwasher? And is there a proper/suggested way and why?

Poll coming...

I just realized my middle option should read - handles down/fork tines up!
But I can't edit it.

[brittone2]

Our Miele has the tray on top so we just load that now. I grew up with tines down, handles up in the upright racks so that is what I did previously (eta: In the duvet thread, I mentioned I was also buttons up on the duvet until a year or two ago LOL. Apparently I do everything backwards ;) ). DH eats almond butter or PB off the spoon. and it was tough to make sure things didn't nest...especially with nut butter on spoons. Gross. We rarely have issues with that with the tray on the Miele now.

[kaharris83]

I used to do handle up. Then we got a new dishwasher a few months ago and the manual suggests handle down, the caddy also has slots which require handle down to load. So we switched to handle down, except knives for safety reasons go handle up.

[egoldber]

Sharp knives I load handle up. Everything else is handle down.

[gatorsmom]

Sharp knives I load handle up. Everything else is handle down.

:yeahthat: same here.

[lec]

Sharp knives I load handle up. Everything else is handle down.
:yeahthat:

[Mommy_Mea]

We a little of both. One side of our utensil caddy has the slots, so everything goes handle down there, with spoons separated to avoid "nesting".

On the other side, if there is overflow, I alternate handle up and down to avoid nesting of similar utensils (spoons, forks, etc).

Seems to work pretty well in getting everything clean :)

[Twoboos]

We do handle up for everything, easier to put in and grab out to put away.

However in a few months we'll get a Miele with the top utensil tray, so my answer will change to neither. ;)

[KrisM]

I'm not sure how to vote. I do handles down, including forks. So, handles down, fork tines up.

[lizzywednesday]

Handles down/Fork tines & knife points down - DD has been helping me unload the utensils & this works out to be safest.

DH mixes it up; I've nearly cut/stuck myself a couple of times because of fork tines or one group of butter knives with their blades up (we have some that are smooth but some that are slightly serrated.)

[trales]

Everything up but the sharp knives.

[minnie-zb]

We have a miele which has this cool tray on the top where you have individual slots for the utensils. It is awesome! The utensils lie on their sides. We have 3 trays in our diswasher vs. the normal two.

When I load with baskets I do everything down and try to space stuff out so it is evenly distributed. I'm a little OCD about dishwasher loading. The stories my husband could tell....

[elliput]

Handles down on everything except knives. I have to keep reminding my DH not to put the forks tine down because they get wonky. We have 3-tined forks which slip into the holes of the silverware tray.

[daniele_ut]

Handles down on everything but the sharp knives. My Bosch dishwasher has a utensil basket with slots for individual utensil handles to keep things from getting stuck together in the dishwasher.

[SnuggleBuggles]

A mix. I don't want them to wind up spooning and thus maybe not getting all clean. I never use that slot feature in my Bosch...it just adds too much loading and unloading time for me.

[Momit]

Sharp knives I load handle up. Everything else is handle down.

Silverware is always handle down. Sharp knives are washed by hand unless they were used on raw meat, then they go in the dishwasher handle up.

[gamma]

Handles down on everything including sharp knives. I have an 11 year old GE and with the design of tht basket, the tines of the forks and the point of the knives poke through the bottom causing the rack to get stuck every. single. time! So even the knives are pointing up and it hasnt been a problem since we are used to it.

[sariana]

I prefer handles up but put no more than one spoon per basket down. Otherwise the bowl parts sit together, and one doesn't get clean. So the second (and sometimes third) row of spoons go handles down.

So I guess I "mix it up," but I do follow my own rules about it. It's not haphazard.

[ABO Mama]

Handles up! Sharp knives don't go in the dishwasher...it dulls them.

[wencit]

Handles down, taking care to separate the utensils so that nothing nests. I wash all my sharp knives by hand.

[klwa]

Sharp knives I load handle up. Everything else is handle down.

:yeahthat: Except when DH loads the dishwasher. He loads everything handle up. I then go through & fix it. :)

I've been told that studies (?) have shown that things get cleaner tines up becasue they get to move around more/get more water on them, so I started loading that way.

[wendibird22]

A mix. My cheapo dishwasher has a silverware basket with only 6 sections so there's a ton of silverware per section and it all sticks together if it isn't a mix of up and down, even butter knives. Sharp knives get hand washed. I long for the day with a dishwasher with a silverware tray.

[Globetrotter]

I mix it up intentionally, thinking that it will be less crowded that way. I handwash sharp knives.

[BabbyO]

Sharp knives I load handle up. Everything else is handle down.

This is me, too!

DH does forks and spoons handles down, all knives (even butter) handle up. But he also loads 99% of the utensils in the same 2 compartments because he's too lazy to reach in the back when he's throwing utensils in as he's using them...so he doesn't roll the caddy out...just opens the door and throws the item in the closest compartment.

ETA: we only wash our cheapo "sharp" steak knives in the DW...all the others are hand washed. But the steak knives are actually pointy at the end and could hurt when grabbing them out.

[egoldber]

Sharp knives are washed by hand unless they were used on raw meat

Yes, my *good* sharp knives are hand washed. :) But my inexpensive steak knives and my Kuhn knives (like these http://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-4-Inch-Nonstick-Colori/dp/B0030XNLQ4/ref=sr_1_21?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1361987077&sr=1-21&keywords=knives ) go in the dishwasher (handle up ;) ) . I :heartbeat: those knives.

[Globetrotter]

My mom told me a story about a grandmother who loaded her sharp knives in the dishwasher handle down, and her grandchild ran into it and was killed. After that I got paranoid about these things.

The link is from snopes, but the story is true:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/dishwasher.asp

[Giantbear]

i prefer handle down, but since dd became mobile and likes to help load dishes, i do everything handle up to avoid accident.

[Tenasparkl]

the caddy also has slots which require handle down to load. So we switched to handle down, except knives for safety reasons go handle up.

Same here.

[Clarity]

Knives pointed down, everything else pointed up.

[crl]

Oh how I wish I had a dishwasher. :hysterical:

The manual for my last dishwasher said to load tines, etc up--I assumed so they would get cleaner. Drove my dad nuts because then you touched the clean part that would go in people's mouths when they eat. I figured I prepared the food, who cares if I touch the fork tines? And if they don't get clean in the first place, my not touching the tines won't help anything anyway. (Not to mention that dad was basing this on the Army way a million years ago and has never actually loaded or unloaded a dishwasher in my house--heck, he has only very rarely done so at his house.)

Catherine

ETA. I never wash sharp knives in a dishwasher.

[MamaInMarch]

I put everything in handle down and try to make each compartment a mix of spoons, forks and butter knives. My dishwasher compartment is on the door so when I open it the utensils are laying flat and I can open the compartment door and grab by the handles to put it away. I might do something different if I had to touch the part that goes in the mouth.